Join Our Operations Team:We're seeking a hands-on Production Manager to plan, coordinate, and lead daily manufacturing activities. You will ensure products are produced safely, on time, within budget, and in accordance with rigorous quality requirements while driving measurable improvement in safety, quality, delivery, cost, equipment reliability, and employee development.
Department: Operations |
Reports to: Director of Operations
You will direct production supervisors and employees, execute the approved production schedule, manage labor and equipment capacity, resolve shop-floor constraints, and build a culture of safety, respect, accountability, teamwork, quality, and continuous improvement. You will work closely with Planning, Materials, Quality, Manufacturing Engineering, Maintenance, Safety, and Human Resources while respecting each function's authority and accountability.
What You'll Do
- Execute production plans: Translate approved schedules and ERP/MRP priorities into daily work by department, work center, and shift; align labor, equipment, materials, WIP, skills, and priorities to meet customer commitments.
- Lead performance management: Run tier meetings and visual reviews of safety, quality, schedule attainment, throughput, productivity, scrap, rework, downtime, labor efficiency, and utilization; assign owners and due dates for gaps and verify sustained results.
- Maintain visible floor leadership: Verify standard work, identify bottlenecks, escalate issues, and adjust staffing and workflow to recover delays without compromising safety or quality.
- Manage capacity and readiness: Anticipate labor, skills, equipment, and material constraints and recommend overtime, reassignment, cross-training, outsourcing, or escalation as appropriate.
- Coordinate production readiness: Partner with Manufacturing Engineering on routings, tooling, cycle-time improvement, process changes, standard work, new-product introduction, and production readiness.
- Protect quality and traceability: Partner with Quality to execute process controls, inspection requirements, traceability, nonconformance containment, and corrective actions while preserving Quality's independent authority.
- Improve equipment reliability: Partner with Maintenance on preventive maintenance, downtime analysis, planned access, and recurring-loss elimination; lead production's approved autonomous maintenance activities, operator training, abnormality identification, and escalation.
- Manage costs and resources: Control production labor, overtime, staffing assignments, consumables, and other departmental costs; explain variances and provide operating data for staffing, equipment, tooling, and capital recommendations.
- Drive continuous improvement: Use Lean methods, direct observation, production data, standard work, visual controls, and structured root-cause analysis to improve flow, lead time, throughput, productivity, quality, workplace organization, and schedule attainment across shifts.
- Develop people and leadership capability: Coach and hold accountable supervisors and employees; support hiring, onboarding, skills matrices, qualification tracking, cross-training, succession development, recognition, conflict resolution, and consistent policy application in partnership with Human Resources.
- Champion safety: Lead pre-shift safety communication, hazard identification, housekeeping, required training, and adherence to PPE, machine guarding, lockout/tagout, material-handling, and other procedures; participate in incident investigations and verify corrective actions remain effective.
- Communicate and collaborate: Provide clear production status, risks, constraints, and recovery plans to the Director of Operations and cross-functional partners while preserving functional ownership across Planning, Engineering, Maintenance, Safety, and Quality.
What You Bring
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, operations management, business, or a related discipline preferred; equivalent manufacturing leadership experience may be considered.
- Typically 5+ years of progressive manufacturing experience, including at least 3 years leading production supervisors, team leads, or manufacturing employees.
- Demonstrated success managing daily production performance, staffing, schedule execution, safety, quality, productivity, cost, and employee development.
- Experience in high-mix, low-volume, precision, or engineered-product manufacturing with rigorous documentation and traceability requirements preferred; aerospace, defense, medical, or similarly regulated experience is a plus.
- Working knowledge of ERP/MRP systems, production scheduling, labor and equipment capacity, standard work, visual management, and Lean or continuous improvement methods.
- Ability to interpret production data, identify constraints, lead structured problem-solving, and implement practical corrective actions.
- Strong people-leadership, coaching, communication, conflict-resolution, organization, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Ability to work regularly on the production floor and support multiple shifts or extended hours when required by production needs.
Core Competencies- Production Leadership & Execution: Converts approved schedules into clear daily priorities and delivers through supervisors and production teams.
- People Development & Accountability: Coaches leaders, builds employee skills, addresses performance concerns, and fosters a respectful, engaged workforce.
- Safety & Quality Discipline: Maintains visible floor leadership and consistent adherence to safety, quality, traceability, and process controls.
- Operational Problem-Solving: Uses data, direct observation, and structured methods to resolve constraints, downtime, defects, and schedule gaps.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Coordinates effectively across Planning, Materials, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, Safety, and Human Resources.
- Continuous Improvement: Standardizes work, reduces waste, improves flow, and sustains measurable gains across shifts.
Additional Requirement
- This position may require access to ITAR-controlled technical data and services. Applicants must meet applicable U.S.-person requirements under ITAR where such access is required.
Benefits That Support You- Medical, dental, and vision coverage, with eligibility beginning on your first day
- 401(k) with company match
- Company-paid life and AD&D insurance equal to 1.5 times annual salary, with optional supplemental coverage and pet insurance
- Paid holidays and paid volunteer time after 30 days
- Educational and physical wellness reimbursement, plus an Employee Assistance Program
- Company-provided prescription safety eyewear and protective footwear
- Optional legal and identity-theft protection plans through LegalShield
- Annual performance reviews, merit increase opportunities, and defined career progression within the role
Ready to Make an Impact?If you combine hands-on floor leadership with disciplined execution, strong people development, and a continuous-improvement mindset, we invite you to apply and help build safer, more reliable, and higher-performing manufacturing operations.
